1. Field
The present application relates to systems, devices and methods for propagating fields of light within an optical system. More particularly, the present application relates to producing an output light field from an illumination source such that the output light field has a uniform cross sectional illumination.
2. The Relevant Technology
A growing trend in microscopy over the last decade is the automated imaging of biological samples. Rather than the manual observation of samples, automated microscopy involves computer-controlled automatic selection and digital imaging of sample fields, enabling high throughput imaging of a large number of samples without end-user input.
Automated imaging is often known as HCI (High-Content Imaging) when applied to fluorescently labeled cells with automated quantitative analysis of the acquired images. In particular, HCI is a cell-based screening method that yields detailed information about the temporal-spatial dynamics of cell constituents and processes, and plays an important role in the use of cell-based screening for identification and validation of drug candidates. The information provided by HCI alleviates bottlenecks in the drug discovery process by providing deep biological information. The assays associated with this method use either fixed or live cells, depending on the biological information desired.
HCI is commonly used with cells labeled with fluorescent probes, such as fluorescent ligands, and immunofluorescent probes directed towards particular cellular targets, fluorescent environmental or cell state sensors, or fluorescent protein chimeras endogenously expressed by the cell. One of the benefits of HCI is its multiplexed multispectral capability, where multiple fluorescent probes can be detected, each emitting a fluorescence signal in a different color.
During fluorescent analysis, light from a fluorophore excitation light source is typically guided towards the cells. The excitation light illuminates the cells, which induces fluorophore emission light to be emitted from the cells. The emission light is imaged and analyzed to determine information about the cells. To enable detection of multiple fluorescent probes, the fluorophore excitation light source can provide multiple bandwidths of light.